THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead District School Board has seen a marked improvement in literacy and math for elementary students.
The province's Education Quality and Accountability Office has released the results of it's 2023-2024 standardized testing. The public board saw it's biggest improvements with its youngest students.
Math assessments in Grade 3 and 6 improved over the previous year with 70.5 per cent of Grade 3 students meeting or exceeding provincial standards. This is up from 58.4 per cent in 2022-23. Grade 6 students also improved at 51.1 per cent, up from 43.9 per cent the previous school year.
In reading, 83 per cent of Grade 3 students met the provincial standard, an increase from 74 per cent over last year. Grade 6 students at 84 per cent.
For Grade 3 writing, 75.8 per cent of students at Lakehead Public Schools met or exceeded the provincial standard, up from 68 per cent. Grade 6 students stayed roughly the same, decreasing slightly to 83 per cent from 83.5 per cent the previous year.
In Grade 9, 51 per cent of students met the province’s standards, up from 49 per cent in 2022-23.
Director of education, Sherri-Lynne Pharand, said they have ongoing work to do but the board believes these results demonstrate they are headed in the right direction.
The provincial ministry of education has provided funding for a math lead at each school board.
“It’s been an intentional focus on teaching and learning in both literacy and math, with the support of math coaches who are providing additional support in classrooms and also intervention plans and programs,” said Pharand, adding assessments are key as they help educators to know where students’ learning gaps are so they can be specifically addressed.
With literacy, Pharand said the school board has been implementing the science of reading strategies outlined in the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Right to Read report.
“It helps all students to really grasp that important concept of reading in early years,” she said. “We also have significant intervention programs in place.”
At the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, Grade 3 math results improved over the 2022-23 school year to 61 per cent of students testing at or above standards, up from 55 per cent. In Grade 6, math results stayed the same with 45 per cent of students achieving the provincial standard.
Success in Grade 3 reading increased from 73 per cent to 77 per cent, writing saw an improvement from 63 per cent to 66 per cent.
Grade 6 reading results dropped one per cent to 83 and writing fell from 85 per cent to 79.
Grade 9 math results remained steady at 51 per cent for the Catholic school board.
No one from the Catholic board was available for comment.
